fewer competitors it was full throttle among the remaining airlines to score passengers germany's lufthansa group came out on top in terms of passenger numbers selling one hundred sixteen million tickets in two thousand and seventeen ireland's low cost ryanair remain the most popular budget carrier with over one hundred nine million passengers beating out. the company behind british airways iberia and air lingus and it was followed by air france k l m and ryanair is bitter rival easyjet. whether ryanair can keep the momentum going this year is another matter c.e.o. michael o'leary finally agreed to recognize unions and pay pilots more in return passengers are footing the bill now the ultimate no frills airline has made check in times shorter and even cabin baggage comes at a cost. and the whole business teamhair and i will have an update for you in the next hour as usual in the meantime do check out twitter and facebook feeds and also visit our website for more stories that state of you dot com slash business before you go here is as usual a check on global markets at this hour thank you very muc

fewer competitors it was full throttle among the remaining airlines to score passengers germany's lufthansa group came out on top in terms of passenger numbers selling one hundred sixteen million tickets in two thousand and seventeen ireland's low cost ryanair remain the most popular budget carrier with over one hundred nine million passengers beating out. the company behind british airways iberia and air lingus and it was followed by air france k l m and ryanair is bitter rival easyjet. whether ryanair can keep the momentum going this year is another matter c.e.o. michael o'leary finally agreed to recognize unions and pay pilots more in return passengers are footing the bill now the ultimate no frills airline has made checking times shorter and even cabin baggage comes at a cost. of portage one isn't joins is not in the studio. looks a bit close ryan as number you just heard the report number two behind. in europe the ride that had a turbulent year but one thing always sticks out that the part that pilots this stuff don't seem to be happy that no they're not and we have heard in the last twenty

groups to merge in europe. they did a good job. but arguably others like iag and job. but arguably others like iag a nd luftha nsa job. but arguably others like iag and lufthansa klm never integrated, there is mistrust. air france specifically has not restructured as much as it has to. and the chief executive resigned and the decision for the new leader will set the tone of how the talks carry on? that is what i would say. the chairman has the choice, a typical air france choice of bringing somebody new in every two years, or deciding for restructuring candidates, arguably to deal with the situation effectively that is fairto the situation effectively that is fair to the plough use you would need a leader to be there for almost a decade to solve this issue. —— deal with the situation effectively ina way deal with the situation effectively in a way that is fair to the employees. the likes of british airways and lufthansa have adapted to this new markets, why have air france not been able to do the same? iag, ba and lufthansa went through a series of bad strikes, at the time everybody said this is the wrong strategy, you need to get out of it, you need a consist